When we say safety, usually the first thing that comes into our minds is being safe from fatal accidents such as a car accident, gun shot, drowning, etc. On a nurse’s side, little did others know that a simple needlestick from a needle used to a HIV or Hep B or C positive patient is as fatal as the ones mentioned. While the former may instantly kill, the later would linger and would slowly lead to your demise.

As to the context of accidents and safety, an accident doesn’t always have to be so much bloody and serious; a pain brought by a mere fall could be called one. Let’s take for example a nurse working in the psychiatric unit; mentally challenged patients roam around the unit and their unpredictability is a threat. Sometimes nurses become ambivalent on restraints and morality issues because they don’t really know when these patients’ hostility would fire up. So when an unrestrained patient becomes uncontrollably hostile, accidents may follow involving both the patient and the attending nurse.

As a nurse, I believe a well digested education is the fulcrum to keep us fluent amidst work-related hazards; moreover, it will serve as a shield to protect us from the same. When we pledged to become nurses we also submitted ourselves to the consequences imposed by the profession…… But do we always have to cling and depend on these decrepit facts? Although, those may be facts but don’t you think we need more concrete and sturdy ones?

In the year 2007 I flew to the US. I was one of the few who were lucky to have been granted a job in the said country. But despite my confidence there’s still a fair amount of fear that daunted me: being all by myself. Adjusting in my new life in the foreign country was by far the most challenging. All the pressure was in me. I felt ashamed because it seemed like I was the smallest in the block. Imagine, the Americans were so tall and it often make me feel so detached being with them; very intimidating. I could honestly say that my confidence is slowly wearing-out. Maybe they were thinking that I can only perform limited works because of my height. But I was wrong. They respected me just like the rest of the members of the medical team. They commend my skills and even looked up on my capabilities. I realized, height, after all, does not matter. What matters is your performance, how you connect with your colleagues and how you deal with the stresses brought by your work.

True enough, height is might; but that ain’t matter to me…

As what I observed, Filipino nurses are the ones being treated pleasantly by the Americans. I think, it’s our empathy and love for our work that impress them. How we deal with our patients is very therapeutic compared to others. Filipino nurses have always been in demand to foreign countries especially here in the US.

Nowadays, realizing the American dream turns out to remain just a dream; pathetic. New Filipino nurses could no longer enter the US that simple unlike in our time wherein applying here was not yet that strict and complicated; lucky for me that I enjoyed that benefit.

To the new RN’s out there, do not lose hope. Don’t let your American dream rot; turn it into reality. If you have that desire of working here, start applying right now. Might as well start by taking the NCLEX; if you are an NCLEX passer, you are actually standing closer to living your American dream. Don’t let the global recession and other circumstances deter you. Keep the faith. Goodluck!!! =)

Since 2005, shortage of nurses has been foreseen to reach up to 260,000 in the entire country. To this end, studies show that the nursing shortage poses a considerably huge threat to the healthcare system of the country. One of the foreseen problems is when the older nurses retire, few if not none will fill in the space that they would leave behind.

Reasons point toward the unstable economy that incites the hospitals to suspend their hiring of nurses and a lack of nursing school graduates. Results of a certain study suggest that at least 50% of nurses in the US are planning to retire between the year 2011 and 2020.

This may be a good news to foreign nurses like Filipinos who have been yearning to work in the said country. One of the measures that authorities of the country may consider is to hire foreign educated nurses to address the shortage.

Unfair isn’t it? The well-off nurses are the first ones to go abroad and taste the more idyllic kind of life whereas the poverty-stricken nurses who badly need those handsomely- paying jobs are still pathetically stranded here in our unproductive country. Talk about money making the world go round, student visa is considered as the most popular way being used by Filipino nurses to penetrate productive countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. But the placement and processing fees involve an unthinkably vast amount of money. An amount visible only to the bank accounts of the well-to-do. If you have the money, then might as well practice the British or Aussie twang; but if you don’t….. :-/

I found out it was only for formality’s sake that I was made to read all those guidelines; bogus guidelines. I was out there on my own, guarding my every move cause a single mistake might cost the patient’s life—-or mine.

Dreaming comes for free, but working on that dream is the real deal. The fruits of your labor may not be very evident in the present but certainly it will yield succulent fruits in the future.

I am really at a loss as to how other professionals are able to work immediately with high wages while nurses, who I think, performs one of the most edgy works could not even buy a nice pair of shoes. It feels like we are poor monkeys roaming around the jungle looking for food in order to survive. That’s why not all RN’s are working in the hospital because they would rather choose to work in other fields which could pay them beautifully.

It’s just so sad to think that we are, all the time, referred to as warriors of health but not treated well in terms of salary. Remuneration which is supposed to be suited to the kind of work we render.

It was supposed to be a relaxing weekend for me at the beach. The weather’s beautiful, the beach’s magnificent; everything’s perfect. I spread my sarong in the white powdery sand under a talisay tree. I sat there siphoning a glass of nice, ice-cold mango shake. I was starting to read Paulo Coelho’s intriguing novel “Eleven Minutes”; “my weekend getaway is excellent”, I thought.

Enjoying every moment of frigging around, I indulged myself even deeper into a well-deserved slumber. Moments later I was awakened by frantic sounds of people. A young girl drowned and the concerned people was shouting “who’re doctors or nurses here?” I am a nurse but I’m not really well-versed when it comes to emergency situations such as what was transpiring.

With an honest heart and intentions clear as an infant, I hurried towards the victim. She’s unconscious. Of course I started with the ABC principle. She was not breathing so I attempted to revive her but nothing happened. Despite my focus I couldn’t help but hear the obtrusive comments of the surrounding cynics. And yes one of it was—oh well, you can read the first sentence of this post. Aid came over, and the girl was rushed to a nearby hospital. I heard she survived; obviously not because of me.

Talk about a shrinking self-esteem….

One time, as I was talking to my patient for an assessment, a relative of another patient who might have mistakenly identified me as a doctor, asked for my help regarding a consumed IV bottle that was still hooked up. I, without any tinge of doubt, immediately closed its flow regulator. Waking up from a delayed confusion, I realized I was not on duty and I should not have done that. The best course of action would have been to report the concern to the on-duty nurse. I was almost tempted to open the regulator back and let the patient’s blood fill the IV tube, but that’s utterly foolish. Well, my point is, I’m not on duty and I wont be liable if something happens to the patient. It should be clear to the nurse on duty to monitor his/her patient’s status regularly.

I’m not being shrewish about the incident; it was a plain and simple task but the rules says no, I should not be doing it. Ironically, asking an on-duty nurse, busy as they are, to close an intravenous regulator is also ridiculous. I guess this is one of the simplest forms of dilemma that envelopes nurses as to when their duty and role stop. Essence says it is, while the regulation says it’s not. Well I guess sometimes, logically illogical matters are indeed logical.